Cheeky villains taunt police

CHEEKY crooks taunted police with their own festive message after receiving Christmas cards from them warning them to spend the festive period at home. Officers were stunned to receive a cheeky reply from "the burglars of Fitton Hill".

CHEEKY crooks taunted police with their own festive message after being warned to stay out of trouble over Christmas.

Police had sent Christmas cards to many of Oldham's most prolific burglars warning them to spend the festive period at home.

But officers were stunned to receive a cheeky reply from "the burglars of Fitton Hill".

The hand-written scrawl warned that crime would soar and even included a graph to illustrate their intentions.

But today police had the last laugh. They revealed that officers made 47 arrests for burglary in the past two months while burglaries for the month of December dropped to 196 from 414 last year and stolen property and cash worth more than £7,500 was recovered.

Det Chief Insp John Piekos, who chairs the town's Property Crime Task Force and was responsible for sending the festive warning to burglars, said: "Whoever sent us the card really under estimated us.

"We were determined that the people of Oldham would have a peaceful Christmas, despite the burglars' festive intentions.

"The rise in crime they promised has clearly failed to happen."

Oldham police and their crime fighting partners had the town's burglars on the run all last year and figures show that burglaries have been decreasing rapidly since last April.

Officers specialising in burglary investigations have worked closely with `township officers' and community safety teams.

They have also been marking people's property in two key areas of town, Fitton Hill and Hathershaw.